All roads lead to Dordogne (24). There are international flights from the UK to Bergerac and Bordeaux, the A89 runs straight through the department, the north-south A10 motorway lies to the west and to the east is the A20. There are regular trains from Bordeaux via Libourne to Bergerac, Sarlat, and Périgueux. The TGV train from Bordeaux to Paris takes just two hours. There are also regular coach services to domestic and international destinations.
For anyone living in the Dordogne countryside full time, a car is probably a necessity. It would be possible to live car-free in larger towns like Bergerac for example, but you would have to be prepared to use taxis or a car sharing service from time to time. (To get to the airport for example.)
Also, the large (often cheaper) shops tend to be outside the towns, in dedicated commercial zones which are not served by public transport. There are no regular bus services from village to village, although in theory the general public are allowed to use the school buses which run early morning and late afternoon.
Security
Dordogne is overall a very safe place to live. On the government's list of most crime-ridden areas of France, Dordogne is placed at 96, well below the average. For a population of 416,325 people there were only seven armed robberies in 2024. Domestic violence, vandalism, frauds/scams and burglary accounted for around 80% of the crimes committed. Car theft and drug offences account for most of the rest of the crime figures.
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Healthcare
The proximity of Bordeaux means that even if finding a rapid appointment with a dentist or a doctor with a particular specialism is difficult in rural Dordogne, using Doctolib makes it easy to find one in Bordeaux.
There are local hospitals in Belvès, Domme, Excideuil, Nontron, Ribérac, Saint-Astier, Saint-Aulaye, and Sarlat-la-Canéda as well as the Centre Hospitalier Samuel Pozzi and the Clinique Pasteur in Bergerac and the Centre Hospitalier, the Hôpital Privé Francheville, and the Clinique du Parc in Périgueux. The department has 355 GPs, i.e. 85.1 for every 100,000 inhabitants compared to the average of 92.9 nationwide.
Climate
Due to the Gulf Stream, the climate is more temperate towards the west of the department compared to the east and the foothills of the Massif Central. Generally speaking it is around 5ºC hotter in the south than the north of the department. Spring is often mild but wet.
Summer temperatures are often above 30ºC and can on occasion top 40ºC. Autumn is very often sunny with blue skies and mild temperatures. Winters can be cold and grey, but although it can be frosty, snow is rare. Overall Dordogne enjoys more than 2,000 hours (or 200 days) of sunshine a year, making it one of France's sunniest regions.
Property prices
Possibly due to the long-term influx of expats looking for dream houses in the countryside, property prices in Dordogne are generally higher than prices in neighbouring departments such as Haute-Vienne (87) and even Lot-et-Garonne (47). As everywhere, prices are higher in town than in the countryside.
A 2-bedroom, 120-130m2 house in Bergerac will start at around €250,00-300,000 but the same property in an isolated area will set you back roughly half that amount, although you can buy wrecks and ruins to do up from as little as €20,000. Prices vary enormously according to location and condition of the property.
Rental prices
Finding rental property isn't easy; especially if you are looking for something unfurnished. (This is because in France tenants of furnished properties have fewer rights than tenants in unfurnished properties.) Think €850 per month for that same (furnished) 2-bedroomed house in the countryside. A basic unfurnished 2-bedroom 70m2 flat in Bergerac starts at around €600 per month.
Education
There are no international schools in Dordogne, but The Old School in neighbouring department Lot-et-Garonne offers bilingual education for those who can afford annual fees of around €10,000 per pupil. There are no state schools with an Anglophone 'section internationale' either but the Cité Scolaire Bertran-de-Born in Périgueux has a 'section Européenne’, which provides reinforced English teaching.
Population and demographics
Immigrants count for 6.8% of the population in Dordogne, and although it has a reputation of being home to a large population of expat anglophones, the largest group of foreigners are in fact Portuguese, many of whom have been in France for more than 30 years.
There are also large, well-established Spanish and Moroccan populations. According to INSEE there were nearly 22,000 British people living in Dordogne in 2019, many of them young retirees. Eymet is probably the village with the largest proportion of expat residents; out of a population of around 2,600 more than 25% residents are British.
Main industries and employment
Tourism is an increasingly large industry in this traditionally agricultural department.
Why I Love Dordogne...
Edward says Sarlat is lively all year roundEdward Slark-Hughes
Edward Slark-Hughes moved to France in 2022 from the Cotswolds and works at Beaux Villages in Sarlat. "I love it here. Every region of France is so different from the others. Dordogne is completely different from Provence for example. Here, the economy is basically agricultural; lots of apples and walnuts as well wine. Provence is drier and more arid, so they produce lavender and olive oil. Dordogne is rural, it's green all year round, it offers beautiful landscapes. It is lush and very, very English in the way it looks. Everything is built from local stone.
"When I was planning to move to France I looked at Provence, but I saw how quiet it is in the winter. Sarlat is lively all year round. In the summer people love canoeing and hiking, but there is also a lot for people who love history and gardens. The Château des Milandes and the Jardins de Marqueyssac are even open on Christmas Day!
"There is a misconception that Eymet is full of British people but the people there come from all over the place so I would say it is more anglophone than British. But yes, there is a thriving British grocery there. As an estate agent I spend a lot of time explaining this to clients who don't always know exactly what they want.
"Dordogne [8,828 km2] is the third largest department in mainland France. [First is Gironde with 9,739, and second is Landes with 9,091.] You will pay a premium to be in the Dordogne as opposed to the Lot or Haute-Vienne. A lot of French people have second homes in Dordogne because of the train line from Bordeaux. And the towns are very pretty. A lot of films have been made here because it looks so authentically medieval.
You would need a car to live here because even the nearest supermarket could be a 20-minute drive away, but it's ideal for someone wanting the quiet life, someone who loves gardening, expat society, lots of good restaurants serving duck, duck, or duck with nice wines. Generally speaking it is clean, safe, middle class, with lovely locals. Expats have a strong sense of community here. It's very gay-friendly; no-one really cares about who you live with. Also there are lots of airports, and good rail links to Paris and Toulouse."
